from this orbit, there was not sufficient rocket-power on
Earth to track them down.

If they took Hot Rod with them, there was no single weapon at man's
command that could stop them. And take Hot Rod with them they would.

In his address to the ship's personnel this morning, Captain Nails
had made it quite clear that they wanted no part of the plots and
counterplots of Earth; that theirs was the job of scientists, not
soldiers; that a path was open to them that they would follow.

Later, they could return. Later, with the supplies that were free to
be taken from space, they could build strength.

They could return quietly, one by one, two by two, at times and places
of their own choosing.

Then, and only then, they could lend aid to those on Earth who would
always fight for freedom.

But not now.

They were yet weak; the path of escape and the path of promise lay
before them.

The only help they could be would be to follow that path.

It might not be that the path led where they wanted to go--or where
they thought they were going--but nevertheless the path was there, and
follow it they must.

* * * * *

Quite a speech, Mike thought. There had been much more, but that, and
the Declaration of the Freedom of Space, were the parts that had
stayed with him.

That last they had broadcast back to Earth, thrown, as it were, into
the screaming teeth of the new dictatorial leaders.

Mike leaned back from what he was doing and caught Ishie's eye.

He chuckled, and said "That was quite a mass of stuff that the Cow
upchucked on your command. Why didn't you just freeze her like I
thought you were going to do?"

"Confusion say," quoth Ishie blandly, "he who would play poker with
dishonest men should never put all cards on table too soon. Or in
other words, Confusion is the better part of valor. The garbage made
them think that the Cow had sprung a cog somewhere, without ever
guessing that we had control.

"And by the way, Mike, that was quite a trick you pulled with the air
supply. Having the Cow boost up the oxygen on the bridge until those
idiots got so drunk they were climbing the walls."

"You don't happen to have any education as a psychologist, do you
Ishie? Or perhaps a brain surgeon?" Mike inquired. "It seems a shame
to drag those Security apes along with us. We can't just dump them
overboard, but it would be nice if we could just confuse them or
something."

"Sorry, Mike